Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

cold chisels. The distinction between hot and cold metalworking tools helps to discern
different stages of metallurgy. Castings, billets, hammers, anvils, files, whetstones and
cold chisels are objects that suggest secondary or post-firing metal work.
The regional patterns for metallurgical tools reveal interesting cross-cultural
similarities and differences. Although Cyprus yielded the greatest collection tools from
the MBA, the island produced only four metallurgical implements from that time (Fig.
3.10a, b). MBA tools for metalworking are primarily found on Crete and Anatolia (Fig.
3.10a, b), where important early metallurgical sites are recognized (see metallurgical
summary in Chapter 6). The highest regional percentage of metallurgical tools is from
MBA Anatolia, where molds are the predominant implement type (Fig. 3.10a, b; Fig.
3.14e). The LBA Anatolian metallurgical tools are not as frequent as in the previous
period, but their consumption percentage is comparable to Crete and Cyprus from the
same time (around 8%) and suggestive of common craft preferences. As evident in
Anatolia, the percentage of metallurgical tools declined on Crete over the course of the
second millennium. There was a larger assemblage of metalworking utensils from the
Cretan LBA, but the percentage (Fig. 3.10a) decreased from that of the MBA. The
preferred metallurgical tool types remained consistent during the Cretan second
millennium, although tongs and anvils are unknown from MM contexts (Fig. 3.14a).
Aegean metalworking in the MBA preserved a tradition of that craft stemming
from the third millennium. 221
It is inexplicable why the percentage of Cretan and
mainland metallurgical tools declined from the MBA to the LBA (Fig. 3.10a, b); these
discussion, wedge-like tools or sledgehammers may have been appropriate implements for this task. No
unambiguous ingot breakers are currently known, yet the existence of such a tool is substantiated by logic
and hypothesized for at least two metal objects from the Mochlos Metal Merchant hoard (see Soles 2008,
151).
221 Day and Doonan 2007; Kakavogianni et al. 2008; Muhly 2008b; Gale et al. 2008; Betancourt 2008.
91